The next great NFL scandal also stars the Saints

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Louisiana was told Friday that New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis had an electronic device in his Superdome suite that had been secretly re-wired to enable him to eavesdrop on visiting coaching staffs for nearly three NFL seasons…Loomis, who faces an eight-game suspension from the NFL for his role in the recent bounty scandal, had the ability to secretly listen for most of the 2002 season, his first as general manager of the Saints, and all of the 2003 and 2004 seasons.

A few thoughts:

If Loomis was indeed listening in during the 2004 season, it didn't help his Saints in Week 11 of that year, when they got thrashed by the visiting Broncos 34-13.

The statute of limitations may preclude Loomis from facing criminal prosecution, but does anyone want to bet against the long arm of Roger Goodell extracting another pound of flesh from the still smarting Loomis for this one?

Although this should be filed under the Of Course This Happens in the NFL category, the Saints are the ones who appear to have been caught, and that's all that really counts.

Aints fans truly cannot catch a break.

Perhaps Al Davis wasn't so far out there, at least in terms of his legendary paranoia.

Doug is IAOFM’s resident newsman and spelling czar. Follow him on Twitter @IAOFM

Eavesdropping on private communications is illegal, eh? I guess the government doesn't like competition.

Besides, the Aints VP of communications says it's 1000% inaccurate, so it can't be true....times ten.

Posted by John Tomasik on 2012-04-23 17:15:01

I just can't agree with number 5. There is no defense for Al Davis, under any circumstances.

Posted by Fan in Exile on 2012-04-23 16:58:16

Call me naive if you like, but I don't buy the "Of Course This Happens in the NFL" argument. OK, I don't doubt that it's happened elsewhere, but I don't think it's commonplace either. That's such a glaring ethical and competitive infraction that I don't see how the leauge would tacitly allow it to happen on an ongoing basis. It might happen here or there, but if it was widespread word would filter up to the league sooner or later. The way that coaches move from team to team, sooner or later everyone knows a bit of every other teams dirty laundry, and you just wouldn't be able to keep stuff like wiretaps and bugs quite if it was very widespread.

The corollory to this is the same as the argument that was applied to the bounty scandal; even if other teams were doing it, the first team that gets caught will take the fall if for no other reason than to send a message to the rest of the league that such behaviour won't be tolerated. Is that fair to NO? Maybe not in the sense that other teams might get away with the same acts without punishment. But in the sense that they knew all along they were doing something wrong and could get caught and punished. It's like what I tell the boys in my cub scout den when they misbehave and/or tattletale: you're responsible for your own behavior, don't worry about how the other boys are behaving.

Posted by Hercules_Rockefeller on 2012-04-23 16:30:23

Wow. Saint may not draft again until 2015. Lol

Posted by Orange_and_Blue on 2012-04-23 16:00:03

Good catch, Doug. Btw, Al Davis also said that anything worth having was worth cheating for. I guess that Loomis is a devotee...